Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1887-09-17
THE ANARCHISTS CASES.
Decision Of their Appeal.

BERTHE SUPREME COURT OF ILL.,
NoIs AFFIRMs THE DECISION OF THE
| LOWER CoURT-A LONG AND ABLE
| oPINIoN-THE PRISONERS COUNSEL
WILL TRY TO CARRY THE CASES TO
THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT.
OTTAWA, ILL.,, Sept. 1.-THE SUI
preme Court this morning announc-
ed its opinion in the anarchist case,
affirming the judgment OF the court
below. The Chief Justice turned
| the leaves OF the court docket to the
case Indicated. when the Justice read
the decision of the court in the tan
archist case" His voice was clear
distinct until the order fixing the
death and penalty and date of execu-
ton was reached, when his reading
became labored, his voice husky and
his manner showed it was with the
greatest emotion that he performed
the duty he had been delegated by
his associates to perform. Having
voiced the decision of the court in
| the most celebrated case it has ever
been called upon to decide, the JUS
tice who made the announcement at
once left the bench and retired to
| his room.
THE OPINION.
The opinion, delivered by Justice
Magruder, is very long, containing
about 10000 words. After review
of the case as presented in the re-
cord, it proceeds to consider the
guilt of the prisoners in the light of
The testimony elected in the lower
court The opinion asks, ibid the
defendants have common purpose
or design to murder the police z"
Did they combine for that purpose,
and was the result of such combina-
ton death to men who were the
guardians of the law? The answer
| is, Who made the bombs that killed
Degen? The most deadly of them
were made by Louis Lingg, judging
from what had been found in his
possession and his acquaintance with
VIM. Seliger, who was a German
carpenter, and who made his appear
ance in Chicago in 1885, and who
seemed to be an expert in bomb
making, and in March, 1886, brought
dynamite there. The evidence shows
that these two men, April 80, 1886,
the Friday before the Haymarket
meeting, met and Lingg brought to
Seliger's house large wooden box
which contained dynamite, and that
he (Lingg) spent that evening in
filling dydamite into gas pipe and
globular shells, using fiat piece of
wood which he had made for that
purpose, and he was also assisted by
number of persons, and Seliger
among them. Upwards of fifty
bombs were finished that afternoon,
and the.work appears to have been
continued till the very evening OF
the Haymarket meeting. The re-
cord goes on duplicating others, es-
pecially one Heubner, who was seen
working at some coil fuse, and Lingg,
Seliger, Thellen and Herman were
frequently engaged in casting and
melting in Seliger's kitchen. The
pieces of the bombs taken from De-
gan's body after his arrest were the
same in composition. The evidence
goes on to show further Lingg's con-
nection with this terrible affair so
closely that escape for him would be
impossible The court then asks,
"Why did Lingg make the bomb
which killed Degan? To answer
this it becomes necessary to exam
inc the character of the association
with which these defendants were
connected and its aims. There were
no questions about this organization
nor little about its objects. It's plat
form was published by certain bu-
reau of information called the Alarm
and Arbeiter Zeitung."
THE ANARCHIST THEORIES.
The court, quoting many familiar
extracts from that incendiary sheet, |
says: "Of course among them are
the peculiar ideas Of the communists,
the adjustment of titles to lands,
and sort of freedom which is far |
beyond or ages in the rear OF modern
civilization, and in some of these ar
ticles the charge is made that the
State, the churches, the schools, the |
press, are in the pay and under the
sway of the capitalists, and that the |
laborers must overthrow these pow
ers by physical strength. 1t is adj
mitted, and even positively asserted,
that such thing as right OF proper
ty is not only myth, but great
wrong to those who by laziness and
other faults have never earned pro-